Wow. What a journey. What started off as an idea in my head, pushed forward by @meganahern became something bigger than I could ever have imagined.
I had the idea to write a Layton fanfic after joining Wattpad, but I had to finish my two other stories, Life Moves On and The Promise Kept. I don't remember exactly when I started work on 'Memories of a Time Gone By', but I know that I had a promising idea in mind.
Little did I expect the reaction it got. People's comments really pushed me on, and as I approached the end, I knew I had to write another book to continue the events. Thus, two parts were born and I couldn't have been happier.
The main story was always there. I planned this all out last year, but as I went on, small things changed (as they inevitably do) and soon the second book had a lot of new directions as I pushed the story to new heights.
Now, at the end, I look back with a mix of sadness and pride.
Pride, because I have finally finished it and sadness because it is over. This journey which doesn't seem long on the big scale, but really was in many ways long.
Maybe one day I shall return to this universe. I did set up a possible future story if you read the epilogue and that is there ready for a potential outing, but nothing is set in stone yet. There are other stories to write which I promised.
So now, I hope people who stuck through to the very end, can read this now and look back. I hope you can look back and see this as a journey worth undertaking.
I shall leave you with a rather important message that Sophia gave Anton in chapter 31:
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."